Check, please for Chez Melange

The venerable Redondo Beach restaurant Chez Melange is headed to Riviera Village after more than a quarter-century at the nearby Palos Verdes Inn.

Co-owners Michael Franks and Robert Bell, who opened Chez Melange in 1982 inside a former hotel coffee shop, ended their 26-year run there Aug. 31 because they couldn't get a new long-term lease, Franks said.

The restaurant is expected to reopen by the end of the month at 1611 S. Catalina Ave., which has seen several eateries over the years, most recently Paradiso.

Chez Melange won over diners and restaurant critics in the South Bay and beyond even in its early years, getting praise for its changing menu, wine dinners and tasting events featuring different cuisines.

Although the co-owners had been offered a short-term lease to stay at the Palos Verdes Inn, Franks said, one or two years wouldn't have provided enough security to justify reinvesting in their dated space. They were also uncertain about the property owner's plans for the hotel site near the corner of Palos Verdes Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway, which was acquired in 2006 by an affiliate of developer Ed Czuker.

"The outside of the building looked like a '60s coffee shop," Franks said. "We just felt it was time to move."

Rumors have swirled for the past couple years about the supposed redevelopment of the inn that dates to 1956 - known previously as the Plush Horse. The coffee shop played off that name - it was the Plush Pony - while an adjacent building opened in 1960 as the Plush Horse steakhouse.

That building, which later housed nightclubs, was renovated to accommodate a Bristol Farms market. The store opened in 2000.

Considering the hotel's age and the lot's prime location bordering Riviera Village - not to mention its new owner, who is tied to pending development proposals in Marina del Rey and Playa del Rey - an overhaul would seem likely.

But no one can say for sure what, if anything, is in the works. Calls to Czuker's EMC Development company weren't returned this week, and city planners say there are no applications pending.

Councilman Steve Aspel, whose district covers south Redondo, said he met two weeks ago with one of Czuker's representatives. The company official inquired about the feasibility of refurbishing the hotel, moving Bristol Farms closer to the inn and adding underground parking and condos, according to Aspel.

But the councilman said nothing was set in stone for the site, which is zoned mixed-use. (That designation does not provide for hotels as part of mixed-use projects, however, so a development with an inn, housing and commercial space could require a zoning change.)

"They were just testing the water. They don't have anything on paper," Aspel said. "He just wanted to talk and see what the climate was."

But Aspel also said he would "fight them on any major proposal for residential."

"I want the hotel upgraded. I personally like the Bristol Farms building," he said. "But if they want to make it larger and make it nicer, I don't have any problem with that."

Chez Melange, meanwhile, has submitted a request at City Hall to re-establish outdoor dining at its new site, which has a patio on Catalina. That issue heads to the Planning Commission on Sept. 18.

In a well-publicized fight several years ago, the city yanked a conditional-use permit for a sports bar there - Dante's Inferno - after deciding the owners hadn't complied with the terms of an order addressing complaints about late-night noise.

Franks said he doesn't expect the same kind of debate, however, as the Chez Melange patio would be used simply for dining until 10 p.m.

"I don't think any of that will be an issue," he said.

The new restaurant will offer two dining areas. Franks and Bell are turning the front part into a gastropub, a more casual area likened to an English pub and French brasserie, while the back room will house a "much more sophisticated, upscale bistro."

Chez Melange will continue its tradition of buying from local farmers markets and serving natural, organic meats and seasonal food, Franks said.

"Everything is simple cooking. Much less of the eclectic," he said. "I think it will be an extension of where we left off. We are trying to be a new Chez Melange."